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"This is incredible," Fen said, staring slack-jawed.
"You wait until you see their library," Khan replied.
"You wait until I canreadtheir library." That comment only made him smile wider. Khan caught himself thinking about how nice it would be to have someone close to him that loved magic and learning as much as he did.
The twins were family and dear to him, but they didn't understand a lot about him. In Atrahasis, it didn't matter because Khan had Sargon and a whole city of magi to converse with. Ankhara had separated him from that, and Khan hadn't realized how lonely he was until that moment. He held onto Fen a little tighter.
Get attached at your peril. She won't be here forever.
Khan didn't regret offering her freedom in a year. It was the right thing to do. He hadn't known her well enough then to realize how much he would secretly resent that decision.
"There's your favorite book worm," Kemes said, pointing through the open laboratories to a tall, lanky man staring into a bubbling beaker like it held the secrets to the universe. Maybe it did. You never really knew with Asten.
Asten had been one of the few magicians with whom Khan had made friends. Like the high priest of Anubis, Khan had spent long hours talking with the scholar about everything from the night sky to how crops grew better along certain sections of the Iteru.
He wore the sleeveless green tunic shirt and trousers of his gild and had emerald-colored symbols tattooed up both arms that hummed while performing magic. His straight dark brown hair was tied back in a short tail, but pieces always escaped to tangle in front of his round, smudged glasses.
He scribbled something down on a piece of papyrus and didn't even notice he had an audience. Khan smiled fondly at him and was about to greet him gently, so he didn't feel ambushed. Before Khan could say a word, Kemes picked up a piece of chalk and threw it hard at the Thothi.
"Hey! You have visitors!"
Asten started in alarm, almost knocking the beaker over and smearing ink all over his equations.
"Ah, hello, Your Majesty," he greeted Khan with a slight bow. He glanced at Kemes. "I see you have brought your pet out for a walk."
"Me a pet? Have you bathed since I was here two days ago? You look as rumpled as ever."
Kash grinned at them. "Careful, Asten. You keep stirring her up, and she will try and hump your leg to show her dominance."
Asten ignored them both, his jade eyes focused on Fen. "Hello, stranger I don't know, but…" he held out a hand toward her, "who is absolutely thrumming with magic. Hello, hi."
"Asten, may I introduce Fenrys Rune-Tongue, my—" Khan struggled to find the right word.
"This is your new concubine? Are you serious?! I thought you purchasing a slave was weirdly out of character, but now I know why," Asten interrupted. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before stepping closer. "May I touch your hand?"
Fen smiled and held it out. "Sure?"
Khan tried to bite down his stab of irrational jealousy as Asten studied and stroked Fen's palm.
"Oh, wow. Fascinating. Divine magic? Like a priestess?"
"I'm seiðr, so I am like a priestess to the gods, and I can petition them for magic if I need to. Sometimes they grant it," Fen explained.
Asten's thumb stroked over the rune mark on her hand. "Ohh, the two-branched tree sigil you kept seeing. Mystery solved yet, Khan?"
"Not even close," Khan murmured. He cleared his throat. "Our visit today isn't only so you could meet Fen, but to see if you had a chance to study the wine you were given?"
Asten didn't look up from Fen's hands. "You mean the wine that hadzarnikhin it? It's over there somewhere. Tell me, Fen, can you feel other people's power too? Because—"
"Asten! Focus," Kemes snapped at him. The scholar looked up at her with narrowed eyes.
"What do you want? Can't you see I'm trying to have a conversation with someone more interesting than you?"
"Enough, you two," Khan chided.
Fen's hands closed over Asten's, making his attention snap back to her. "I'll answer any question you like about my magic," she said, her voice calm. "But can you tell me whatzarnikhis?"
"Zarnikh? It's a tasteless, odorless compound that's fatal in the right doses. It's found in all sorts of everyday things, so it's quite untraceable. It was in the wine, which I thought very strange. I hope no body drank it."
